Phoenix Art Gallery

Anyone interested in contemporary art should check out this fascinating gallery. It is a bit marooned on Waterloo Place but it’s worth dragging yourself from the boho coffee shops in the North Laine and the chain retail outlets of Churchill Square to experience the authentic artistic experience on offer here.
More than 100 artists have their studio here and you are encouraged to wander around, chat to the creative types as they produce their work and generally absorb the atmosphere.
The current main exhibition ‘Dream Home’ riffs on Brighton’s Open Houses project with a creepily effective and voyeuristic presentation of the ‘ideal’ living space complete with Rolf Harris permanently playing on the Dansette…

The Phoenix Galleries are one of Brighton’s coolest places for an artistic day, with a huge amount of space to see a variety of different things. There are rooms that can be rented, as well as a nice big gallery space on the ground level, AS WELL as a huge number of artists in residence within the building: over 100 at a time, I think. There’s not much to see at a glance, but going on one of the Open Days or during a workshop day or something similar shows you how big the space is and how much people in here do!
I understand the gallery is a charity, as well as all of the above, giving working artists (must have sold or had some work displayed within a set time) a working studio as well as the possibility of sharing space, time and advice. This is all great, a really vibrant way to work and open the space up, and ties in nicely with the bigger gallery downstairs, which always has a great exhibition on and is worth seeing. It’s maybe half an hour of your time, it’s free, and is normally a bit out there and something different from the norm! See what’s on and go see something soon!

I visited Phoenix Art Gallery when it opened its doors last autumn, with many of the 100-​plus resident artists welcoming members of the public into their studios. We were invited to participate in a series of free workshops, which included taster sessions of analogue sound, figure drawing and jewellery making.
Situated on the busy Waterloo place, Wellesley House is an imposing and unsightly post-​war building making positive use of its vast space. A registered charity since 1995 Phoenix Brighton is the largest artist-​led organisation in the South East of England.
Rich White’s installation, a ragged hole in the gallery wall, which led us down a narrow corridor and into a tiny living space, revealed the re-​imagined quarters of Harriet Sylvester. The story goes that the 89-​year-​old Sylvester refused to let developers buy her out of her home — and eventually she was sandwiched in as buildings were erected around her. White situated the installation in roughly the same spot as Sylvester lived — even using her recovered belongings to build a highly personalised sense of space.
Downstairs we chatted to Dave Stephens, a sculptor whose latest projects explore the texture and varied content of surfaces. His centrepiece is an arresting monument of geometric shapes, covered in collages of maps, referred to as an «antidote to SatNav».
Elsewhere we meet Kay Aplin, whose vivid ceramic turrets were commissioned by Carephilly Council. Painstaking work, the thousands of individually patterned tiles were only finished with the help of volunteering City College art students.

An epicly proportioned block of studios, a gallery and workshop spaces. Pheonix offers a whole lifestyle for those that wish to work within its walls. Personally I have never seen anything going on here that has grabbed my attention or excited me and when walking past the exhibits the only things that have stuck out have been some very colourful totem poles (didn’t go in) and a very apocalyptic looking sculpture by the renowned Mutoid Waste gang (didn’t go in). Perhaps there will be something soon that will knock my socks off, but for me this place serves little use. For the people that have studios here I am sure it is an inexpendible and fantastic place to work.

Home to many budding artists’ studios this all-​inclusive gallery/​studio complex is and has been the training ground for many of Brighton’s finest creatives. It hosts regular exhibitions, offers various classes from photography to craft and rents out studio space for all. For creative solutions of all kinds the Phoenix Gallery is a top notch place.

This all-​inclusive complex is perhaps the hub of Brighton’s art scene. Whether you’re an artist, an art fan or even an ignorant passer by chances are there’ll be something in the Phoenix Gallery for you. Featuring everything from installations to cabaret and experimental performance art, the main gallery is a great place to go and check out the creative musings of Brighton’s local artists. However, it’s also a place of education, as it offers a range of courses from fine art to photography and contemporary craft. Also, if you’re an aspiring creative in need of studio space they have many rooms available for hire. If you’re creative in any way you should definitely check this place out, as it’s a nucleus of activity and imagination.

Phoenix Arts is a multipurpose Arts space in central Brighton, designed to support local artists, whilst also providing Arts education to the community. When I first moved to Brighton, I used to frequent this place more often than I do now, as they often seemed to have interesting exhibitions and events. Maybe I haven’t been paying attention, but the focus seems to have shifted a little to the education side, which is great, but i miss the events!
As well as exhibiting contemporary art, they sometimes host other exhibitions of interest. A few months ago I went to one curated by Brighton’s ‘Save Omar’ group, who after months of campaigning (eventually successful!), compiled all of the ephemera associated with the campaign to provide a really inspiring and highly informative exhibition. I would really love to see more of this kind of thing at Phoenix, as it’s a great way to learn about what’s going on in the local community, and even get inspired into action yourself!
The selection of courses on offer is vast, ranging from photography and drawing to vocal improvisation and puppetry! So if you fancy trying your hand at something new, Phoenix is the place to go. They also hold occasional ‘Art Junky’ indoor markets, where you can pick up art work as well lots of other interesting creative bits and bobs.

The Phoenix is a real landmark on Waterloo Street on Brighton’s central strip. It offers workspace for artists, art courses, exhibitions and events. Its a huge building and you can often see sculptor’s at work in the windows and this year sees the 2^nd year of the Phoenix Brighton’s Art and Performance Festival.
Its often host to artistic fairs I went to a particularly good one around Christmas selling everything from original artwork and kitch accessories to cakes and haloumi sandwiches. If you’re a local artist or just interested in the arts then the Phoenix is always worth checking out.

A gigantic building a small walk from the North Laines and Brighton City Centre, Phoenix is a large arts organisation run by a co-​operative. There’s over a hundred affordable art studios and workspaces and a busy annual programme offering short courses in drawing, painting, fine art, print making, life-​drawing, performance art, jewellery making and –don’t laugh! — puppetry.
Open to the public as well as resident artists and members, it also has a couple of gallery spaces which show contemporary art, multi-​media and photo exhibitions. The priority seems to be local and national group shows but there’s also regular installations by visiting artists from Europe and overseas.
Sadly, the couple of times I’ve visited I thought the work was abysmal. I also went to an event they held on Saturday night as part of the White Night festival and wish I hadn’t bothered. I was expecting to see great bands and some mind-​blowing work and instead was met with hundreds of pissed students and locals talking loudly and drinking cans of lager infront of a tired performance poet and a bad improvisational jazz band. I have friends who claim to have seen great work here though so I’m hoping I will have better luck next time I visit!